


Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child

by Sincerely_Sierra



Category: American Horror Story, American Horror Story: Coven
Genre: Comfort, Discipline, Domestic, Domestic Discipline, Gen, Motherly Cordelia, Punishments, Spanking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-06
Updated: 2019-02-06
Packaged: 2019-10-23 14:35:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17685323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sincerely_Sierra/pseuds/Sincerely_Sierra
Summary: Fed up with Madison’s horrible behavior and resistance to punishment, Cordelia goes old-fashioned and spanks her.





	Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child

**Author's Note:**

> This was requested by an anon, so I did it! No, this isn’t sexual at all. I have another prompt to fill as well. If you have a request, send it to me here. I only do Zoe/Madison and Cordelia/Misty in regards to pairings, but I will write just about anything regarding Coven or Apocalypse. 
> 
> —Sincerely, Sierra

Myrtle Snow doesn’t believe in much beyond witchcraft, but if she does say so herself, “spare the rod, spoil the child” is an excellent proverb to put all her faith into. She never had any children to call her own, but Cordelia knew the rules when she was young, and she knew the punishments for breaking those rules. She blossomed into a powerful witch with gentle scoldings and without having to be smacked by Myrtle, but not the same can be said for a select witch living at Robichaux’s.

 

Madison is terrible. Awful. Retched. Perhaps herself as a person isn’t terrible, but her attitude sure is, and it disgusts Cordelia. The spoiled former movie star has been residing in the coven for two years and she’s not learned a damn thing about etiquette. Zoe has been here for all of one and she’s got the routine down.

 

Maybe it’s not fair of Cordelia to compare the two. However, attitude- and outlook-wise, Zoe is in the lead. Madison just trudges along like the careless witch she is, blindly following the herd until she’s somehow lost her way. Cordelia does her best to keep her in line, but it’s difficult when you have a young woman who has battled alcohol since a teen, and who is also a witch.

 

It seems that Madison knows how to get on Cordelia’s nerves. She knows every button to press and every switch to flip. Even the simple things, like picking her nasty underwear off the floor to be washed, causes trouble.

 

“Madison, pick them up. Now. It’s laundry day and you know I’m not playing,” Cordelia demands as she points to blue lace panties laying on the bedroom floor.

 

“You pick them up. This is my room and I’m allowed to do what I want with it!” Madison retaliates with a stomp of her foot.

 

“Um, I live here, too,” Zoe pipes up from the desk where she’s playing on her laptop.

 

“And I don’t care.” Madison turns around to face Cordelia. “You pick them up if you care so much. Why don’t we have a maid to do our dirty work?”

 

Cordelia pinches the bridge of her nose and sighs. “Madison, cleaning after yourself is not dirty work. It’s part of life. I’m washing your clothes; the least you could do is pick them up and put them in the hamper.”

 

Myrtle walks in on this scene right as Madison stomps her foot again. The wild redhead scoffs at the young girl’s contempt and shakes her head.

 

“For god sakes, Madison. You are the worst child I have had the displeasure to meet in my life! Pick those crusty undergarments off of our clean floor or you will be out beating them against a rock!” Myrtle threatens.

 

Madison huffs and grabs her underwear from the ground. She tosses them at Cordelia, who instinctively catches them in one hand. The Supreme deposits them into the laundry hamper and looks back at the young witch.

 

“Was that difficult?” Cordelia questions.

 

“Very. Now, I’m going out for a smoke. Care to bitch about that, too?” Before Cordelia can answer her rhetorical question, Madison stalks off, the obnoxious heels on her boots clacking the entire way.

 

Cordelia sighs and turns to Myrtle, face twisted into disgust.

 

“I need to wash my hands. It was wet.”

 

+++

 

Dinner is quiet. Misty attempted to cook and it turned out to be in her favor. She made spaghetti with sauce made from scratch, and homemade garlic bread. To everyone’s surprise, it doesn’t taste like shit. After all, the woman has been living in a swamp for who knows how long; she probably only feasts on what she can pick off a plant.

 

“How do y’all like it?” the Cajun questions as she watches the rest of the girls take cautious bites.

 

“Wow, Misty,” Zoe says, licking a bit of tomato from her bottom lip. “It’s really good! How did you do it?”

 

“Just a whole bunch of vegetables with spices I grew and some sauce from a can. I spiced the noodles, too! I mixed up vegan butter and garlic salt for the bread.” Misty beams proudly. “Not bad for my first time, right?”

 

The room agrees in murmurs and smiles, thanking Misty for their dinner. Except for Madison, who mercilessly picks at her limp noodles with a fork. Cordelia, who is sitting a few inches from her, discreetly stills her hand with her own and leans closer to her face.

 

“You better eat and stop being a brat,” Cordelia hisses.

 

“What? I’m just playing with my food. I didn’t even say anything,” Madison shoots back.

 

At the other end of the table, Myrtle strains her ears to hear what Delia is saying to Madison. The smaller necromancer is quietly arguing back and forth with her Supreme about, what Myrtle can understand, “dry pasta” and “bland sauce.” Misty is sat nearest Myrtle and Zoe, who she’s happily talking to, so she’s most likely unaware of the conversation taking place at the table.

 

“I don’t want to eat it,” Madison tells Cordelia in a sharp hiss. “It looks terrible.”

 

“Stop it, Madison. It tastes fine and you’d know that if you would give it a chance. Eat. I don’t want you to hurt Misty’s feelings. She worked hard to make this meal and you will eat it,” scolds Cordelia.

 

“No!”

 

Queenie, sat across from Madison, sighs and puts her fork down. She kicks Madison from under the table, causing her to yelp in response.

 

“Girl, just shut up and eat it,” Queenie whispers, checking to make sure Zoe has kept Misty in conversation. “You complain about everything. You get free food without working for it and you still complain. Eat the goddamn pasta before I jab this knife into my hand.”

 

Cordelia feels somewhat ashamed that she doesn’t have the gall to threaten Madison that way. Not because she isn’t a human voodoo doll, but because she doesn’t feel it’s the Supreme’s place to say such things to her witch. She’s more mature than that. She’ll let the other ones fight it out, but she won’t go that low herself.

 

“Eat a dick, bitch,” Madison spits back.

 

“Madison, that’s enough!” Cordelia grabs her arm.

 

Myrtle removes herself from her seat, casually takes Madison’s arm, and stands her up with one, forceful yank. Misty and Zoe watch on in confusion, having missed the tail end of the scenario. Without another word, Myrtle drags Madison from the dining room, causing Madison to kick out at her.

 

“What the fuck?! Let me go!” Madison cries. “You are going to bruise me!”

 

Myrtle doesn’t respond as she marches up the hard staircase while dragging the childish girl along behind her. Madison allows her weight to drop, and it only hurts her more. However, the redhead doesn’t stop, and continues up the steps despite Madison thumping herself on each one.

 

They find themselves in Madison and Zoe’s bedroom. Myrtle tosses the girl onto her bed and retreats out, slamming the door behind her. She can hear Madison yelling and banging it, but she quickly enchants the lock and smiles to herself.

 

“Let me out, you crazy bitch!” Madison shouts. “Get me out of here! I’m not a fucking child!”

 

With a light chuckle, Myrtle goes downstairs to the dining room and resumes her place, as if nothing happened. The table has gone silent at her return, and Misty’s bright eyes search the room.

 

“What happened to Madison?” the Cajun wonders aloud.

 

“She’s taking a little break. She will come down when she’s learned to be decent,” Myrtle replies.

 

Cordelia raises her eyebrows at the only motherly figure she’s ever known, sending her a silent message. Myrtle waves her off and nods once, a sign she’s properly taken care of their little issue.

 

After dinner, Zoe and Queenie offer to clear the table and wash the dishes. Misty forces them to allow her to help, so they all go into the kitchen and turn on the radio while they clean. Cordelia takes this opportunity to approach Myrtle once she’s polished off her second glass of wine.

 

“What did you do?” Cordelia asks. “I don’t hear her anymore.”

 

“Relax, Delia. She is acting like a child. So I treated her as such. I put her in her room for a time-out, and I will lift the enchantment on the lock when I feel she is ready to join us as a human being. For her actions, she gets no dinner and she can starve tonight,” Myrtle says.

 

“I’m sorry, Auntie Myrtle,” Cordelia sighs. “You shouldn’t have to do this. I should know how to handle it. But I don’t, because she’s just so—so. . .”

 

“Dreadful? She is a child in a young woman’s body, and you know the old proverb. Spare the rod, spoil the child, which means that, if you allow this behavior, she’s just going to keep on with it like the brat she is.” The older woman reaches up to brush a lock of blonde hair from Delia’s face.

 

Confused, Cordelia tilts her head. Rod? Is Myrtle insisting that she beat Madison with a rod? She would never hurt any of her girls that way. She doesn’t have the capacity. Her heart is too big to ever bruise her witches.

 

“What are you suggesting I do?” Cordelia asks helplessly.

 

“Spare the rod, spoil the child. If you don’t want a child to be spoiled, you bring out the rod. It’s not a literal rod, Delia. You just need to punish her in a way that will stick with her,” Myrtle says.

 

“Like?”

 

“Rod, Cordelia. Rod.”

 

+++

 

Cordelia makes one final round of the house for the night to ensure everyone is in bed and the windows and doors are locked. She gets to Madison’s room and leans on the door. Myrtle lifted the enchantment awhile ago, but Madison has yet to leave the room. Zoe went in after Myrtle allowed her inside, and Delia hasn’t seen them since.

 

“Get your fucking shoes off my bed!” Madison grunts, as if she’s pushing something heavy.

 

“Ow! Madison, knock it off! They’re your shoes, I’m trying to help you clean!” Zoe’s tired, feeble voice cries in frustration.

 

With an inaudible sigh, Cordelia rests her head on the doorframe and listens to them argue with each other. Things fall on the floor, Zoe groans, Madison grunts, and Cordelia’s head pounds in her skull.

 

“Quit throwing stuff at me!” Zoe whines. “You are such a brat and should be punished with more than no dinner!”

 

“Shut up, Zoe! Get this shit off my bed!”

 

Cordelia’s had enough. The pounding spreads from her forehead to the back of her skull. She barges into the room in a swift motion and takes note of her surroundings. Madison has thrown her shoes and clothes on the floor, and Zoe is sat back on her bed, hand cradling her head, as if Madison hit her.

 

“What the hell is happening in here?” Cordelia asks. “Look at this room, it’s a mess!”

 

“Cordelia, please do something,” Zoe whimpers. “She won’t help me clean up her own mess and used telekinesis to throw something and it hit me!”

 

As Myrtle did earlier, Cordelia takes Madison by her arm and leads her out of the room though the girl fights and scratches. Cordelia brings her downstairs to their living area, where the piano is, and sits on the couch, pulling Madison next to her.

 

“Let go! Leave me alone!” Madison shrieks. “I hate you!”

 

That word stings Cordelia a little bit, but she continues with her punishment, and deposits Madison in her lap.

 

“I hate to do this, Madison, but you need to be taught right from wrong,” Cordelia calmly explains. “If I don’t do this, I would be failing to meet my requirements as Supreme. Over my lap.”

 

Madison’s eyes widen, and she starts to make a run for it, but the Supreme catches her little wrist in her hand and pulls her back to her body, flipping the girl so she’s situated face-down over her lap.

 

“What the fuck?! What kind of kinky shit is this?!” Madison yells.

 

“This is something parents do to their children when they misbehave. Spare the rod, spoil the child. My mother never did it to me because she was never around, but Auntie Myrtle would have been thrilled to fulfill it had I’d been a bad child like you,” Cordelia says.

 

“You crazy bitch!”

 

Disregarding that, Cordelia deeply inhales and exhales. She lifts Madison’s nightshirt, hoping she isn’t bare beneath it. She counts to ten in her mind before retracting her hand and aligning it with Madison’s clothed butt.

 

“I’ll behave, just let me go!” Madison sobs.

 

“I can’t do that, Madison,” Cordelia calmly whispers before she brings her hand down on her rear end, causing Madison to cry.

 

Madison whimpers into Delia’s thigh. She wants to move, to transmute out of here, but she’s too confused and foggy-headed to do so. Cordelia spanks her little bottom again, harder and faster, so the sound echoes off the walls. She picks up the pace for the next three, one after the other, until Madison is sobbing.

 

“Please, Delia,” Madison sobs, pulling her head up the best she can. “Stop it. I’ll listen to you. Please stop it.”

 

 _Smack_.

 

“I’m not sure that’s true, Madison. You don’t mean that.”

 

 _Smack_.

 

“I do mean it, stop hitting me!” Madison yells as she wriggles around like a dying fish. “Quit it, Cordelia! Stop! I’ll do whatever you want!”

 

Delivering one final smack to Madison’s reddening butt, Cordelia smooths the girl’s hair from her wet face and pulls her up so she’s sitting upright in her lap. It’s pathetic, the way Madison looks. Her face is covered in tears and snot and it’s red from crying. At first, Cordelia is flooded with a dam of guilt, but she composes herself when Myrtle’s proverb crosses her mind.

 

“Shh. Stop crying,” Cordelia soothes as she brushes a strand of hair from the blonde’s face. “It’s over now. Stop.”

 

“You hit me,” whimpers Madison.

 

“I know I did, Madison, but that’s what happens when you act the way you do. You get spanked. I tried to be reasonable with you but you refused to listen. I did what I had to do,” Cordelia gently explains.

 

Madison wants to pull away and run, but for some reason, she doesn’t. She stays in Cordelia’s lap and fidgets with her fingers, waiting for her ragged breathing to calm down. Her butt aches terribly, throbbing and burning. She’s never been spanked before. She never knew how this felt, and it’s worse the more she thinks about it.

 

“Are you ready to apologize?” Cordelia asks. She wipes Madison’s tears for her. “Hm?”

 

“Mhm,” Madison mumbles, having lost the courage to speak. “I’m— _hic_ —sorry.”

 

“For?”

 

Looking up incredulously at her Supreme, Madison sniffles and swallows hard to rid her mouth of the poison.

 

“For being a brat and not listening,” she replies.

 

Cordelia hums in content, then begins to play with the young girl’s hair as she brings her closer to her body to cradle her. She feels a bit remorseful watching Madison cry and tremble in her arms. She never once thought that she would lay a hand on her witch.

 

“I love you, Madison, but you can be a real pain in the ass,” Cordelia chuckles. “You need to learn that authority is authority and you should obey it. I tell you to do things because I know what is best for you. Do you understand?”

 

Madison nods in Delia’s shoulder.

 

“I understand. Please don’t hit me again,” the former star whines.

 

“I won’t. Not if you listen to me and be kinder to your sister witches. They don’t appreciate your bad attitude, and I don’t either,” says Cordelia.

 

Madison’s disposition has gone from rebellious to weak. She remains curled in Cordelia’s lap like a wounded puppy, clutching onto the collar of her shirt, endeavoring to rid her face of the rueful expression it’s been disgraced with.

 

“I never want to hurt you,” Cordelia assures. “But sometimes you need to be taught a lesson. Sometimes I think you have something you’re bottling up. What’s on your mind?”

 

Without removing her face from Delia’s chest, Madison begins to speak in a low tone, whispering as if she doesn’t want anyone to decipher.

 

“I’m jealous,” she says, voice thick with tears. “You love Zoe and Misty and Queenie more than me. You treat them a lot better and show them more attention.”

 

Cordelia’s heart twists. Now she feels guilty. Guiltier than she’s ever been.

 

“Madison, I love all of you the same. It’s just, they show more emotion and are easier to get along with. You shut everyone out and are very cruel to people. It seems you don’t want to be shown affection, so I don’t give it to you,” Cordelia admits. “At the end of the day, I would fight to the ends of the earth to protect you, because that’s what I’m here for. I don’t hate you. I never have. I love you just as much as them, but you need to be willing to open up.”

 

“You—You promise me that?” Madison asks. “Really?”

 

“Yes, I promise. I do love you, Madison. I can’t hate you. You just need some guidance to help you through this, but you have to open up to me. I will show you all the love and affection you want, but it’s give and take.” The Supreme runs her fingers through Madison’s silky hair.

 

The two remain in a comfortable silence, Cordelia stroking Madison’s hair and Madison toying with Delia’s shirt. The throbbing in her behind begins to fade, though she knows she will be bruised tomorrow. Cordelia leans down and kisses the top of Madison’s head.

 

“I wish I didn’t have to spank you, but I had to. Now you understand why,” whispers Cordelia. “Will you try to be better?”

 

Madison nods.

 

“And will you be nicer to your sisters?”

 

Another nod.

 

Cordelia gently lifts the girl off her lap and stands to face her, steadying Madison so she doesn’t fall from the burning.

 

“Good. Now you may go to bed. Lights out as soon as you get up there,” Cordelia says as she smooths out her clothes.

 

Madison goes to say something back, but Cordelia raises an eyebrow, and Madison closes her mouth and nods.

 

“Okay. Goodnight.”

 

“Goodnight, Madison.”

 

After Madison goes upstairs to her room, the light shuts off, and Cordelia sighs in content. Her hand somewhat stings, but she is proud she had the courage, and for that, maybe her coven will be a little brighter.

 

The rest of the night and all that follow are quiet.


End file.
